Non-wearing of seatbelts a key factor in road fatalities

A senior garda has said the non-wearing of seatbelts has contributed to a high number of road deaths in the Mayo/Roscommon/Longford Garda Division this year.

Chief Superintendent Ray McMahon told a meeting of the Mayo Joint Policing Committee (JPC) that of the 15 fatal road traffic collisions that occurred across the three counties in 2023, five of the people who lost their lives were not wearing seatbelts.

The chief supt said gardaí will be rolling out checkpoints in the coming months to target the non-wearing of seatbelts. He urged rear-seat passengers to belt up, warning of the horrendous accidents that have occurred when passengers fail to use one.

A report on road traffic offences was delivered at the JPC. There were 1,819 speeding offences detected in the county up to the end of August. A total of 466 motorists were caught driving while holding a mobile phone and 67 people were observed not wearing a seatbelt. There were 82 drink-driving detections and 20 drug drivers were detected.

Garda checkpoints caught out a number of drivers travelling at highly dangerous speeds. On the N5, a motorist was clocked at 192km/h in a 100km/zone and on the N17 a driver was caught driving down the road at a speed of 200km/h.

The meeting also heard other crime figures for the county: There were 467 incidents of property crime in 2022 and that figure has jumped to 607 this year. Property crime covers burglaries, robberies, and theft. Burglaries and thefts from shops have also increased significantly in 2023.

In terms of drug offences, there have been 23 sale and supply detections so far this year. There were 51 simple possession charges.

More than €760,000 worth of drugs has been seized in the county in 2023. Cannabis (€548,000) and cocaine (€209,000) were the drugs seized. Gardaí also seized just under €17,000 in cash linked to the drugs trade.

Sexual offences have increased this year from 25 in 2022 to 44 in 2023.